Why Bollywood owes a lot to SRK!

Once upon a time, when SRK would proudly claim to be ‘The Best’, it was seen as the sign of a young and resurgent India that was confident, and not apologetic about its success and ambitions.

This candid showmanship is what made him a hit with corporate India too, and put SRK on the social map, beyond the usual filmy circles. Today the same personality has become a prime-time pastime and butt of jokes on social-media.

Maybe that’s just the arc of a star’s life. After-all the public, did not even spare the mighty Bachchan, during his lows. And perhaps Shah Rukh is just one blockbuster away from becoming the darling-hero once again. But while other actors bask in the glory of their 100-crore-blockbusters and make most of the publicity game driven by their image, let’s not forget who started it all!

At a time when Hindi films were un-cool and struggling to find an identity, the boy from Delhi made an entire generation of fans fall in love with the movies once again. And helped the industry understand that films were neither about personal cinematic satisfaction, nor about siphoning away black money.

Shah Rukh Khan introduced the 'business' in India's movie-business.

ENDROSEMENT BANDWAGON:

From cars to condoms, celebrity endorsements have become the norm for every product category in India. Way back in the 90s, it was Shah Rukh Khan who opened up an altogether new revenue stream for actors, and reduced their dependency on half-hearted, pay-cheque projects.

Today’s leading stars are free of the financial pressure to work in films they aren't convinced about. A Ranbir-Imran-Ranveer can afford to take their time and wait for the right script, as their income is secure from other sources.

It’s a luxury that perhaps Anil-Sunny-Jackie did not have back in the 80s…And that clearly shows in their filmography.

PERSONAL BRANDING:

For the longest time a Bollywood 'Star' was an inaccessible personality with a larger-than-life persona. SRK turned the concept on its head and introduced fans to a star who is totally accessible, 24x7 in your face and less of a dream but more of a success story that one could emulate.

This fan-celeb equation opened up several monetisation opportunities for stars as they went about using their identity as a promotional tool.

After all he here's a man who even turned his name into a commodity, by making his initials (SRK) one of the most recognisable brands with an instant recall value. And thanks to that, you have a situation where every actor in the industry promotes him/herself with some or the other pet-name, that is quoted more often than their real one.

Stars are no longer just stars…They are brands. Secretaries have turned into celebrity managers, and today, heads of multinationals perhaps have better access to stars than many movie producers. From CSR initiatives to public service campaigns to political debates, no topic is complete without the celebrity opinion. For the A-plus league of stars, product endorsements are just a vehicle to establish a larger brand image. And all stars connect with fans in their own unique way to create a perception that is in-sync with their personal brand.

__PAGEBREAK__MARKETING:

Think about it. In the web1.0 era, much before BTown had even discovered the 'd' of digital, Shah Rukh was one one of the few actors who owned an official homepage.

As things stand today, nearly a quarter of a movie’s budget is kept aside for marketing. Back in 2000, it was Shah Rukh Khan who did the first all-round media blitzkrieg for a movie, with his maiden production Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. As Bollywood was transitioning into the multiplex-era, Khan went all out with in-film-placements, on-ground-promotions, PR plugs, merchandising, interviews on mainstream news channels, and even introduced the trend of promotional music-videos. Since the film bombed, a lot of his efforts went unnoticed.

Other producers continued to flirt with these concepts on a smaller scale, till Khan took it to the next level in round-two. Once again he repeated his marketing carpet-bomb with Om Shanti Om, on an even bigger scale. By now the Indian media too had grown in scale and reach, and SRK managed to bring Bollywood onto page-one and prime-time news. This time the film worked and laid the foundation for a 360-degree, promotional template, that was later enhanced by Aamir Khan and is now pretty much a standard for every movie.

OVERSEAS MARKET:

The whole NRI market which accounts for a significant chunk of a movie’s box-office collections was an alient territorry till DDLJ came along. In the 80s and early 90s, our cousins from aboard wouldn't be caught dead, watching a 'Bollywood Movie'. Whereas the uncle and aunties would be happy with their fungus-laden VHS tapes of Raj Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan.

Khan and his brand of NRI-romances, opened new avenues for the industry. Suddenly BTown was talking in dollars. And this fan-base drove a parallel promotional machinery that included overseas stage shows, global award functions and international movie premieres.

Today even the likes of a Zayed Khan and Mallika Sherawat, walk international red-carpets, waving out to an entourage of IPhone-armed fans – Who want to populate their Instagram feed with as many celeb moments as possible. But it was this man, who many years ago had sowed the seeds of Indian Diaspora's Bollywoodisation.

Right now SRK finds himself at the receving end of the fame-game, but a lot of celebrities would not have got even a fraction of the public and dare-I-say media attention that they enjoy, had he not changed the rules of stardom and celeb marketing.

Maybe SRK is a victim of the trend he started, and all the flak he has been receiving is simply because his actions have gone against the image of brand-SRK that the people have created in their minds. Had a Salman Khan been involved in such a run-in, who knows! The reaction might have been quite different.